J_Fisher

We did the West Ridge via the rock bypass left of the couloir this past Saturday (10/4). What Highlander described is exactly what we found--a couple loose mid-5th moves in the gully just left of the couloir, then rather dirty 3d/4th to the ridge. Very straightforward. We did the east ledges descent, also pretty straightforward, though I downclimbed the last 3 of the 5 rappels. I thought the scree and sandy slabs from east ridge back to the basin was pretty unpleasant. If I were to go back in late season I think I'd just go back down the west ridge. All this beta may be academic though. There was a message at the trailhead signpost that Cascade River Road was closing at the park boundary today for repairs . It did not say anything about when it would reopen. I'm hoping it's not closed for the season as there's some stuff up there I'd like to look at a little later, but I may be SOL. BTW, if you lost an AMGA certification course book and log on the W ridge a few days ago, PM me if you would like it back.

I've had what you describe and Flexeril was the only thing that worked for me. Massage, mega doses of vitamin I, etc. barely took the edge off the pain, whereas flexeril allowed me to function more or less normally (if in a somewhat altered mental state...) Good luck, I know what you're going through and it sucks

Thanks for the feed back. I read the same articles and that's why I haven't gone to a doctor yet. But at this point, it's been so long I figure it can't hurt, and a good specialist who's seen these before may have some insights other than what's in the books. I may as well get something out of those insurance premiums I've been paying all those years...

I've got Camalots, flexible friends and rigid friends on my rack(in various quantities and mixes, depending on what I'm doing). To be honest, I often grab the camalots first b/c of the range thing and the nice action, but the friends work just fine, and are much lighter and more durable. For easier alpine stuff I usually take the rigid friends b/c they are much lighter than either the camalots of the flex friends. Even taking into account the fact that the camalots get used slightly more, I have replaced trigger wires on camalots 3 times for every time on the friends. The flip side is that you can replace the BD wires very easily and cheaply yourself, while the WC need to be repaired by someone with a swager. I've talked to BD about the fragility of their wires, and they say it's a conscious choice b/c they think the skinny little wires let the lobes float more for placements in weird irregular cracks. That's all fine and good, but in my experience the wires often break at inopportune times.

I hurt my left ring finger bouldering back in April--pulled on a shallow pocket undercling, heard loud pop, felt extreme pain. My self diagnosis was a partially ruptured A2 pulley. I've completely laid off all rock climbing except very easy all footwork type stuff hoping it will heal. Well, I notice from the calendar that nearly 6 months have passed and the thing still hurts and I can't climb anything other than 5.easy. I probably should have gone to a doctor a long time ago, but I'm now looking for a referral for a hand specialist that has specific experience with climbing injuries of this type. Thanks in advance

East Face of Teewinot is really nice. More aesthetic than the walk up on the Middle Teton for sure. Middle Teton Glacier is a good route too that sort of walks the line b/t scramble and easy solo.

Rodchester, I don't remember there being bivies in the "bowl" below the molar. Not saying there are not...I just don't recall. I do remember that after you go through the window and scramble down, the moat b/t the molar and the top of the Tepee glacier/snowfield was fairly level and sheltered and would be an OK place to bivy in a pinch. Plus you could melt snow for water. The only other snow/water after that would be west of the 2d tower. Since our bivy was unplanned, we were thankful for meltwater off the upper snowfield during our night up there. When I did the route we tried to go super light and had neither stove nor sleeping bag, but we had very warm stable weather and sort of lucked out on the water thing. I've never done the Petzoldt, but would imagine it's of similar character to the Direct Exum, which I've done. The east ridge is a totally different sort of route. The lower exum and the Petzoltd, I'd imagine, are basically nice crag routes that go to a summit (and technically probably more interesting and aesthetic). The east ridge is more of a mountaineering objective--cruising huge amounts of moderate terrain, with a bunch of really steep, exposed snow. I thought the upper snowfield was pretty wild (at least as wild as snowfield could be...) Have fun!

I did this about 7 years ago, so the memories are a little fuzzy, but here's what I remember... I think "window" and "notch" are referring to the same thing. The "Left Chimneys/4th Class Gully and couloir" version described here is what we did: http://www.way-wired.com/oldwwm/ergrand.html The description matches my recollection. It seemed pretty obvious at the time. Where we got screwed up was on the second tower. We couldn't make sense of the route description...couldn't find the "downclimb to ledges". We ended up rapping down a gnarly choss/ice/mud gully for about 50 feet to a flake system that we used to traverse across the north side to gain a chimney system that I think got us back on route. To this day I'm not sure how we got screwed up there. From the notch we probably should have looked harder for a traverse instead of rapping. The route is certainly doable in a day if you are comfortable 3d classing or simul-climbing tons of 4th and low low fifth class terrain. My partner and I were pretty green and we made the mistake of pitching it out. I lost count of the pitches we did, but between the end of the 3d class stuff and the 2d tower it was at least 15 and we were slow. There are decent bivies around the second tower. By the time we finished our shaninagans on the 2d tower it was dark and we bivied on the crest of the ridge just west of the tower. For the start, we bivied on the morraine right at the base of the climb. There was water a short scramble below, meltwater from the Teton Glacier I think. If you've never done the Grand before, plan on having some daylight to find your way off the summit to the Owen-Spalding rappells. That is not something I'd want to be puzzling out in the dark. I thought it was a cool route--definitely a classic mountaineering type route, and you cover a lot of territory. Have fun

I did NW Face of Kangaroo Temple last Saturday. Some snow fields getting to the little lake below the pass; all snow from the lake to the pass itself. We did the approach in hiking shoes, no axe, no poles, no problem. It was a hot day and we got a late start, so if you leave early you might want an axe and/or heavier footwear. Snow was melting fast though . . . I'd throw axes in the trunk and make a decision on whether to bring it on the approach once you get there.

I'll add to the chorus: I did the route as you describe in August 98 with no permits and no problems. I left the car around 4:00 (if memory serves) and was at Sunrise by around, well, sunrise. Seemed pretty unlikely there would be any rangers wandering around that early.

The biggest drawback to the Alaska picks on waterfall ice is they are noticeable harder to clean. If you overdrive one, either b/c of a panic swing or you misjudge the the density of the ice, you will pay a much higher price trying to get it back out.

I can't comment on the current trangos (trango S?) but I have the previous model and they are not waterproof (or waterproof-able) at all. Too many seams and they don't have a one piece tongue. (Yes, I waterproofed the leather and sealed the seams.) Snow and water quickly make their way through the tongue. They are misery to walk in, too.

I was out there mid-June a few years ago and all the south and east facing stuff was fine. The classic ice routes were still covered in sloppy late season snow so it was a bad time for black ice couloir and that kind of stuff. That was a low snow year though, and I don't know what it's been like this season. Check with the rangers--they know their shit. I think unstable weather is the biggest factor this time of year. I thought the Direct Exum was great, but it is very crowded. I've never done the Petzoldt but it would be a good back-up for the Direct Exum--if the line is too long just keep moving east. Irene's Arete is great. Snaz is pretty good but Caveat Emptor is better. Middle Teton Glacier is neat but pretty moderate...basically a steep snowfield with a little scrambling. I don't recommend the Beckey Couloir or the Ellingwood Couloir. Waste of time. I thought Guides Wall was overrated. 2 good pitches at the top but a bunch of crappy pitches to get there

Elliot Left Hand is a very nice 4, if a bit rambly. Starts with a long pitch of 3, some rambly stuff with a short WI3 step, then finishes with a nice WI4 curtain. The position is cool too, as you're in a box canyon sort of thing. Can have high avy danger though: you're in a narrow canyon with all of Mt. Elliot above. We were hit by what I assumed was a windslab (no recent snow in days) that released above Kitty Hawk (which is in the next gully right of Elliot LH) that would have been ugly had we been elsewhere on the route when it hit. (as it was, we were clipped to anchors during the descent: took a pummeling but no harm done). 570 is a good 4 in that neighbor hood with little avy danger.

If you're looking for ice/mixed, that early it's going to be a roll of the dice. I don't know about the snowpack this year, but you'll likely be dealing with seasonal snow instead of alpine ice. That could mean nice neve, or it could mean 8 inches of rotten muck sloughing off the ice below. It was the latter when I was out there mid-June a couple years ago. Mixed snow rock climbs might be a good bet. The Middle Teton Glacier route is fun and less committing than the mixed stuff on the Grand. South facing rock routes will probably be fine unless it's stormed very recently, though expect to bring crampons and/or ice axe for descents and possible ascents (I remember using crampons on upper exum and getting to the owens spalding raps.) the O-S could be in fun mixed shape that time of year. There's always the lower elevation rock climbs, too. Caveat Emptor was dry and the descent snow free by June in '00. I'd keep plans open and check with the Rangers once you get there. They are very competent, no-BS types and keep very current beta.

I posted a couple pics from my visit to CO over MLK weekend in the Photo Gallery. It looks like the Fang fattened up some over the week after Dale's visit. Good views of Frigid Inseminator in the pics as well. That one is fun but the gear was a bit scary . . . We also visited Rifle. Hardly anything was in. Stone Free was an itty bitty pillar with no ice on the finish. We did Soul on Ice which was thin but reasonable. Only other climbable ice was The Final Curtain. The cragging in Boulder Canyon was good too!

I'll be out there this long weeknd but won't be going to Ouray. I've heard Rifle is in really well and that Smear of Fear is fat (at least relatively speaking). Can you confirm that? I'm also sort of curious how fat the ice on Secret Probation is . . . Tr'd it last year and thought it would be fun lean with a little more ice . . . Thanks Jon Fisher

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Bunny slippers looks sweeeeet. But no beta. Does anyone know more about that one? Dru?

Try this link: http://www3.telus.net/adunham/

I don't know. I think Ponch might be hiding something . . . http://www.b3ta.com/motorbikes/

Went up for a look on 8/25. Except for a dusting of snow from the previous day's storm, the route was all very hard firn and ice, at least to our high point. We had pickets but they were worthless. The glacier itself was pretty much dry but still easy to navigate. We turned around at about 1/4 to 1/3 height because it was too late to be that low on the route and the Wx looked iffy. (2 hrs. later a big lenticular enveloped the summit dome.) From below it appeared like a line roughly approximating the one in the guide books would go at the moment, but with a bit more wandering and a fair bit of technical ice. If you go up there I would recommend 2 technical tools (or at least 2 tools and a long axe that's OK for piolet traxion).

We had the crag to ourselves, but it was 12/30 and rainy, so YMMV considerably . . .

I spent 1/2 day there during a visit to Monterrey around New Years. I thought the area was pretty cool, but the rock is less than perfect. It's volcanic breccia, a lot the crumblier stuff at Smith. We did a 5.8 gear route (Ordeal; fun and really easy), a 10a gear route (Jebs Crack?; a steep tips crack in a corner with a couple sketchy moves on less than reassuring gear) and Wet Kiss (5.9 bolted climbing featuring big moves on huge juggy knobs). Unfortunately, just as we were getting warmed up it started to pour, so we headed back and finished the day getting way-rad at the Monterey aquarium. Since the west side has a reputation for shitty rock and longer approaches, we just went to the east side. Drive was ~2 hours from Pacific Grove, but we left really early so I'd plan on more time if you do it while the rest of the world is not asleep. The approach to the main east side crag is about 5 minutes or less. E-mail (or PM) if you want more beta or to borrow my topos.

Nelly, you may be morphing Tom--who did Archer and has the killer web page--and me, who tried to do Pampas Drifter and was probably way off route. At the time I thought the route description was just laughably bad, but from looking at the pic on Tom's page I think we may have been in the wrong place--in the ledgey bushy stuff where the sun meets the shade in the pic, whereas the route may be on the sunny face. I may try to go back for a second look too. Tom, you racing this year? I actually found your page through the WMRRA page. This will be my novice year--WMRRA #913, '93 GSXR600. Not that this has anything to do with climbing . . . [ 03-29-2002: Message edited by: J Fisher ]